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Reviews > Hydration Systems > Buckets > Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket > Owner Review by Ray Estrella
Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket
TESTER INFORMATION
I have been backpacking for over 30 years, all over California, and in many of the western states and Minnesota. I hike year-round, and average 500+ miles (800+ km) per year. I have made a move to lightweight gear, and smaller volume packs. I start early and hike hard so as to enjoy the afternoons exploring. I usually take a freestanding tent and enjoy hot meals at night. If not hiking solo I am usually with my brother-in-law Dave or fiancée Jenn. The Product
Manufacturer: Seattle Sports Company Product Description
The Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket (hereafter called the bucket) is a collapsible bucket aimed at the backpacking crowd, of which I happily claim to be one of. Field Conditions
This has been on every backpacking trip and quite a few fastpacks or long dayhikes in the past four years. From the south up it has been carried and used in the following parks and forests. Observations
I bought the Seattle Sports bucket in 2004 because I was tired of fighting to filter water by myself as I do a lot of solo hiking. Trying to pump my filter and keep the pick-up in a good place is very hard to do with only two hands. The first time I used the bucket I knew that I would never go on another trip without it. My regular hiking partner Dave is an ultralighter that hates carrying any extra (shared) weight. But after using the bucket with me to filter water he decided that he likes not having to perch over streams so much now that he never complains about taking the bucket. My beloved was pretty impressed when, at a site away from water, I made multiple trips back and forth with the bucket to first filter water, then fill a collapsible sink to warm for her bath, and finally just hung the full bucket for washing chores for the evening. It saved a lot of trips down to the river where we would be forced to scramble down to the water each time we needed some. It allows me to get to water that would otherwise be difficult to access. On one very long day in Kings Canyon I was burning up. We needed water and found a little creek running through a culvert pipe below the forest service road that the trail had merged with. By using the bucket I was able to dangle it down into the stream coming from the pipe. If I had not had it one of us would have had to climb down into a lot of poison oak and berry brambles to get it. And once we had filtered water I refilled the bucket and dipped my head into it to cool off. That makes it a porta-bath! Here is a pic of that incident. The bucket can be used without hanging but to do so I need to make sure that it is no more than 3/5 full and carefully set it down to make sure that it does not collapse sideways spilling my precious water. The picture at the end of the review shows it in use this way at a camp 9000' (2743 m) up Mount San Gorgonio. I have not found anything to complain about the Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket. Even after a lot of use with constant folding it is still watertight. I plan to use it for many years to come. This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Read more reviews of Seattle Sports gear Read more gear reviews by Ray Estrella Reviews > Hydration Systems > Buckets > Seattle Sports Pocket Bucket > Owner Review by Ray Estrella |